Martinsburg men enter into pretrial agreements

November 23, 2012

MARTINSBURG - Three men accused of aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft in July entered into pretrial diversion agreements with the United States Attorney's Office, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Northern District of West Virginia.

The three 20-year-olds, of Martinsburg, entered into the agreement after the FBI reported they admitted to aiming the laser pointer at an aircraft near the Martinsburg Airport, the statement said.

A pretrial diversion is "an alternative to prosecution, which seeks to divert certain offenders from traditional criminal justice processing into a program of supervision and services administered by the U.S. Probation Service," according to the U.S. Department of Justice website.

The men will be supervised by the U.S. Probation office for one year, required to work regularly and perform 120 hours of community service.

The charges came about as a result of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, which established a new criminal offense for aiming the beam of a laser pointer at an aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the U.S. or at the flight path of such an aircraft, the statement said.

Those found guilty of this crime are typically subject to up to five years and prison, as well as a fine.